Reflection and transmission imaging of nanostructures by an apertureless near-field optical microscope

Scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) has proved to be a powerful tool to analyze and image surfaces with high lateral resolution. We report a hybrid microscope composed of a commercial atomic force microscope (AFM) and an apertureless SNOM, which operates both in reflection and transmission modes with several illumination and collection systems. The optical probe is a commercial AFM tip integrated on a silicon cantilever. The AFM is operated in the intermittent contact mode at the resonance frequency of the cantilever. We present the first images obtained on a grating of cylindrical dots of aluminum and we discus their optical origin.© (1997) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.